The integration process of immigrants in Spain

The integration process of immigrants in Spain in-migration Spain EmigrationA complaisant analysis of the integration process of immigrants in Spain.The way in which the problem of immigration in Spain affects the integration of immigrants. e genuinelywhere the furthest fifteen historic period, Spain has g wholeness from being a rural bea of transportation to a country of immigration. In recent years few European countries oblige experienced as dramatic a rise in immigration as Spain. Spain has been among the most open countries in the European Union, admitting 650,000 immigrants last year alone and granting residency permits to 560,000 more who were in the country il leg some(prenominal)y.Although the contri justion of immigrants is still relatively low comp argond to other European countries (6.1% of the population in 2005) the growth of immigration experienced over the last five years has led experts to consider the country as a new immigration centre. The economi cal and historical connections with North Africa and South America have been the chief triggers of immigration flows, with almost 2/3 of immigrants coming from external the EU. Europeans as well represent a large number of immigrants in Spain. Attracted to the Costa del sos climate and low cost of living, many come to retire. in that location are three basic causes for this substantial change in the persuasion of Spain as a new centre of immigration. The first is the continuous economic development of the country and the fact that it belongs to one of the most developed regions in the world, the EU. Secondly, Spain is considered as an alternative to other European countries with high levels of immigration where at that place now exist increasingly strong serenityrictions on immigration, especially those originating from outside Europe. Thirdly, Spains geographical situation means that it has become the back gate for immigrants intent on reaching the rest of Europe.The signi fi johnt increase of the exotic population since 2000 has resulted in a growing awareness that immigration is a structural phenomenon and Spain a multi heathen country. Recent Spanish assent poll reveal the distortion surrounded by the domain and topics perception of the consequence of this immigration. In the book Europeos e Inmigrantes, the authors fill locals opinion on immigration and conclude with the following results approximately 55% of Spanish partnership perceive Spain as having a lot of immigrants- though not as well as many- and 25% of them consider the number of immigrants to be too high. The number of immigrants, tho more specific still the presence of immigrants, is suggested to be a problem.This study willing be looking at the perception of immigration as a problem, and the consequence of this perception on the integration of immigrants in Spain. I am fire in the integration of immigrants on a genial level the ways in which tender constructions of the other are reflected in the complaisant integration process of the immigrant population. In the end, I hope to get in sense not just of immigrants marginal status in Spain but overly how the concept of last and society shapes the integration process.Despite uncouth spirit that Spain is being met by an invasion of newcomers, the percentage of immigrants to the total study population remains the lowest within the EU. By 2001, immigrants in Spain make up 2.5% of the population, contrasted with 4.2% for the UK, 4.3 for the Netherlands, 5.6 for France, and 8.9 for Germany. Overall, the European average is three times higher than the Spanish average. Despite the fact that illegal immigrants are shoot the breezen as a threat to the growing population, illegal entrance into Spain counts for only 4% of the immigrants entering legally. up to now today, immigration is among the top three mentioned problems and has been referred to as a cultural problem.The media has had, and continues to have, a great influence on the nations interpretation of immigration and the prominence of immigration in national politics and peoples consciousness reflects the extent to which the subject of immigration is covered by Spanish media. No other medium is able to send a driven message out to the masses, or has so much power as to make everyone value their relievedom of speech.Those who have studied state-supported opinion have verbalize, Although people think they have formulated their own opinion, in actual fact their opinion and argument is more or less(prenominal) echoed from a favoured political leader or party. National newspapers go as far as to include a section on the immigration problem aimed at keeping track of the number of illegal immigrants get the picture by the police. The Spanish newspaper, El Pas uses headlines such as Interceptados 76 inmigrantes en las costas de Granada y Canarias en las ltimas horas, and frequently describes the arrival of nueva oleadas d e pateras que intentan al stackzar Espaa.On television, the Spanish public are supplied with regular images of illegal immigrants attempting to enter the country illegally. The constant focus on immigration in political sermon and in the mass media has created a sense of migratory pull amongst the public, a sense that in that location are floods of people banging on the duck doors to get in. Las puertas de Europa Espaa y nueve pases europeos han acordado establecer un operativo para patrullar toda la geographical zone del frica atlntica susceptible de ser punto de origen de pateras y cayucos que viajan hacia Europa y, sobre todo, hacia Canarias, que acusa casi cada da la presin de esta avalancha migratoria.This pressure is fuelled by both a tending of earnest and a caution of immigrants affecting the Spanish toil market (which I will question later on). This terror is often translated into panic and irrational conclusions for those ignorant of the naive receivedism of t he situation. Evidence of illegal immigrants in Spain has created confusion mingled with attitudes towards illegal and legal immigrants, and often the twain mathematical conclaves are treated as one.Following the 9/11 tragedy, race stereotypes have once again become general and through pure ignorance and fear, immigrants are seen as a threat to the publics safety, often being associated with Islamic fundamentalism. Public insecurity collectible to misinformation has manifested itself in craze and xenophobic tangings against the immigrants. An case of this took place in 2000, in El Ejido (Andalucia), where locals violently attacked newly settled immigrants, following a one-year-old girls murder by a Moroccan.The dissemination of these electronegative perceptions has helped conjure up a sensation of invasion, which does not mirror the reality of the situation. The reality of the situation (which I have already discussed) is that this existing fear is unjustified. It is a rep resentation of the ignorance surrounding the perception of immigration linking the race of an immigrant group with the safety of a country.Immigration has in any deterrent example been considered a threat to the complex remains part of the tote market. During the 1980s and 1990s, when immigration to Spain was at its highest, the country was experiencing a reasoned economic crisis characterized above all by high levels of un involution. The presence of immigrants and the misconception that they were attack the Spanish labour market, added upgrade tension to the relationship between the two groups, and was thitherfore considered an economic and accessible problem. More than any other factor, unemployment is by and large seen as the root cause behind the electoral successes of the radical beneficial across Europe and is credited with casing an existence of a negative, anti immigrant attitude in Spain.Immigration in Spain has also been treated as a cultural problem where the i dea of having immigrants in the country is not perceived as a positive multicultural phenomenon but as a threat to the integrity of the Spanish cultural identity.The Spanish fear that the increasing presence of other national cultures will overshadow and keep down their own traditions. The immigrants have brought their own culture to Spain, which they expect to be prize and recognised so that they may practice their traditions in harmony with the rest of society. Spaniards fear that the integration of immigrants will entail the growth of alien sacred infrastructures and more conflict between locals and immigrants.The social integration of Muslims in limited is perceived as rough, because of the demands for their own religious infrastructure. The constructions of mosques render the development of a multicultural society even more obvious. Since the terrorist attacks in Madrid 2004, Islam has been presented as an alien civilization, with mosques feared as centres of terrorist ac t. This fear often translates into irrational conclusions. As it mostly does in other European countries, the association of North Africans with Islamic fundamentalism, terrorism and crime tends to breed hostility and suspicion from the Spanish public.In summary, the immigration problem revolves around an insecurity bred by the sense of invasion. People feel threatened by the implications of immigrants in the labour market, and what integration really entails for the culture and society dynamics of Spain.I am now going to shell out the concept of integration and how the perception of immigration already discussed has affected this process. In vagabond to assess how this is affecting the integration process I will be looking at the topic from an anthropological perspective.Among those who attempt to do the concept of integration, there is considerable disagreement. In the context of Spanish immigration it has taken on many meanings, whatever implying that it is reached when the immigrant is able to fit in, others suggesting that it hinges on natives open-mindedness and tolerance, and still others prioritising the accessibility of social services and basic necessities.Often, the enclosure is just now used as a synonym for settlement, or establishing physical and social roots. A Spanish social scientist and immigration expert defines it this way We can affirm that immigrants are integ ranged into a host society when they do not face additional obstacles due to their foreign origin in the main aspects of their social, economic, and family life, when compared to the native-born population.Law plays a central role in the immigrants integration on all levels and has been seen as formally codifying them as incompatible at several levels. Spain had several attempts at immigration legalisation the first, the Ley de Extranjeria, counsel primarily on control over immigrants rather than integration. Immigration laws designated some people as non-citizens with a l imited set of rights and privileges.Others were declared to be illegal and unwelcome al unitedly and those who did achieve legal status prove their position unstable, as they are vulnerable to frequent changes in legislating and status. When in 1998 the slue of integration was finally addressed, the focus was still on the integration of non-EU foreigners rather than the immigrant group as a whole, stigmatising the non-EU immigrants as the problem group.Perez, in his article, Spain Forging an Immigration Policy, goes as far as to say that the Law on the rights and Freedoms of Foreigners in Spain and their Integration passed in January 2000, was not so much because of the laws ac fellowshipment of immigrant rights but because of its conception of immigration as a permanent phenomenon. Still today immigrants struggle against indemnity restrictions.Despite the common belief that immigrants create problems in the Spanish labour market, the reality of the situation is that the immigran t practise force is largely responsible for Spains economic growth. This growth, over the last decade, has been among the fastest in the EU. It is not a coincidence that the strong economic growth and increase in employment rate has increased with the arrival of immigrants into Spain. Having said this, statistics show that in 2006 the unemployment rate for Spaniards was 8% compared to 12% for foreigners.The insufficiency of facilities for Spanish employers to contract foreigners and the arduousy such employers face accessing Spanish labour has resulted in irregular immigration flows and labour markets. In addition to the disparity between the unemployment rates for Spanish and Immigrant workers, there is also a difference in the nature of work. The restructuring of the Spanish deliverance after the accession to the European Community has resulted in an increase in the demand for labour in sectors of the economy where nationals no longer desire to work.Spanish laws make it virtu ally impossible to gain admission as legal residents outside of the quota system that is largely confined to those willing to work in agriculture, domestic help, and construction, i.e. those sectors where wages and working conditions are inadequate to collect sufficient local workers. These laws thus guarantee that immigrant workers labour under conditions that are shunned by most of the working class, an arrangement that furthermore highlights their economic delirium and their exclusion from reasonable housing, health care and other basic necessities further distancing there chances on reaching integration.Furthermore, there is unforesightful stability for immigrants in the labour market with most of them receiving only temporal jobs. There is also a significant difference in wages. It has been noted that non-communitarians earn 33% less than Spanish citizens. These forms of discrimination have resulted in the exploitation of unregistered workers considerably lower payments, a lack of safety standards, labour security and worker rights. cardinal of the main problems with the way in which immigration is perceived in Spain is that not much is known about the immigrant as an individual. Because of this lack of knowledge, realities are distorted and often the outsider is assumed to be the perpetrator for societys ills. In endeavouring to reduce environmental complexity to a manageable size, when bombarded with environmental stimuli, untested cognitive short-cuts come to be assiduous which have a tendency to become self fulfilling.In order for immigration to be perceived accurately by any social group there must be a basis of knowledge not hearsay. As most of the media coverage on the immigrant population relates to violence and delinquency, it is understandable why the average Spaniard, adopts a defensive stance. To gain an accurate, or at least fair representation of the immigrant population, these negative portrayals ought to be contend with representatio ns from the minority groups. A lack of organisation and funds are said to explain the lack of minority media produced in Spain.Whether this is the case, or whether the lack of scuttle to produce a platform for the minority groups to speak out from is the materialization of another social inequality. The danger of a general perception of the immigrant group is that incorrect assumptions are made and stereotypes formed. Generalisations on immigrants nationalities create a belief that each nation has one culture shared by all inhabitants. Similar generalisations are made towards the second generation of immigrants. The children of the immigrants, who have never immigrated, and who were born in Spain are assumed to be of foreign origin.These stereotypes also include the concept that others cultural traits are strange and not valued of exploring because they are not necessary to the already comfortable, established concepts that the society possesses. The cultural traits that cause th e most problems are those most different, usually those from non-European countries. This is because, in insouciant life, they are the most conspicuous (with regards to the fact that in Spain the colour of ones skin is still associated with being foreign) reminding nationals that Spain is becoming a multicultural country. Spanish researcher and anthropologist, Damian Omar Martinez, explores the concept that on a social level, non- European immigrants are discriminated against more because they are considered further away from integration the integration that sees immigrants conforming to the Spanish way of life.With the transformation of the European Union, the free movement of Europeans between borders means that to a certain extent relationships between different European cultures are less tense. European citizens are increasingly viewed as being part of a European community. The borders between themselves and the others have almost been extended up to the exterior borders of Eur ope.McGrance argues that there is a diaphanous Western thought process. He argues that there is the superior Western culture, and accordingly there are all the rest as contrast. A crisply divide is created, with epistemological privilege always on the side of the West. With these analyses in mind, one realises the extent of the difficulties immigrants face in becoming meldd into Spanish society.Adding to the discussion on integration and what impedes this process for immigrants, I am interested in how a national population is able to control a minority population. When talking of integration, it is impossible to say when an immigrant is fully integrated as an essential part of this process is determined by non- controllable factors such as the native populations response.It calculates the first step to any kind of integration for minority groups (the immigrants), is acceptance from the majority (the nationals). However, when integration can be defined as a concept that calls fo r the absence of racial discrimination and tolerance for minority groups, the question is raised as to whether it is integration we are talking about or tolerance. Is the immigration in Spain a case of integrating immigrants or merely tolerating them? If it is a case of tolerating immigrants, there is little hope of integration for immigrants on a social level.This brings me onto the concepts of society and community, which seem to influence the process of integration of immigrants. Calavita writes that the concept of culture and community is difficult to define. She quotes Walzers attempt at defining the term that at a minimum a community consists of like-minded members, with some special commitment to one another and some special sense of their common life. The term community deals with the concept of belonging and not belonging the member whom is recognised and part of something, and the outsider whom is striving to be part of something that is not inevitably clear.The Europe we see developing today is a prime example of a community of nations pushing for one identity. Cris beach explores the idea that this very existing identity is one of the main culprits for the problem of integration of immigrant. individuation is represented as a process of classification involving boundaries of inclusion and exclusion. Shore goes on further to explore the terms European and non- European. Though there is no official definition for these terms, a more coherent apply definition can be seen emerging at the borders and boundaries of the new Europe.With the specialisation of European and non-European groups becoming clear, so to is the distinction between the insider and the outsider. These terms are used to reiterate the fact that the immigrant is from outside, it is used to make the distinction between the group of Us (national population) and Them (the immigrant), and it has been used by Spaniards to remind themselves of what they are not. One must ask to what e xtent the integration of immigrants is a process of selection, and to what extent the national population influences this process.Nowadays the signification and relevance of being a member of a community has been devalued somewhat, as it is increasingly difficult to define this term. Calavita quotes Bauman and others as arguing, that this kind of community is on the decline, as globalisation, with its collapsing cultural boundaries, and the diminishing significance of the nation-state, erodes its boundaries and disintegrates its ties, leaving little structure to the foundations of this group.The diminishing significance of the nation state refers to the developing European identity the EU are pushing for today. This united centre requires the breaking down of national barriers to delay full communication between nations in an effort for them to work together and be successful as one. Arguments put forward suggesting immigration is a cultural problem because of its effect on the au thenticity of Spanish culture, are unsound, as the very Europe that Spain forms part of, is doing just that.Considering immigration as a problem, has severely affected the process of integration of immigrants in Spain. The real concern lies in the general publics perception of immigrants. The military unit of a nations perception is based on a sentiment cultivated over many years can this national sentiment towards immigration be changed?It does not make sense to see a city or country as an integrated body of citizens, a group you can enter once you have absolute cultural, economic requirements. It is the discussion of immigration as a problem, and the questioning of whether immigrants integrate or not that creates the phenomenon of immigration and puts such pressure on the social groups involved to form a position on the issue. When analysing the immigration issue in Spain, it should not be the question of whether the immigrants are a problem, or whether they are integrated or no t, but what there role is in society.